On a night when Calgary Flames fans were celebrating the career of Miikka Kiprusoff, the veteran 36-year-old goaltender will be cast on the highlights in part because of a goal he let in from center ice.

Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen got his team to within a goal with under three minutes remaining in the third period, bouncing a backhand shot from just inside the Calgary side of center ice and by Kiprusoff. The Flames, however, hung on for the 3-2 victory and Kiprusoff made 36 saves on Wednesday.

“They’re going to go back and have a look at him,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said, according to the DetroitFree Press. “Obviously, he couldn’t play in the third. We’ll see what happens. It was serious enough to leave the game.”

Franzen is hard to replace, but at least Detroit is likely to get back another forward now that Mikael Samuelsson (hand) has been given the green light to return. Detroit got more good news with blueliner Kyle Quincey (fractured cheekbone) now being healthy enough to workout.

There’s still no timetable for Todd Bertuzzi’s (leg) return, but the good news is that he’s been skating lately.

In other news, Carlo Colaiacovo, who was activated off of the injured reserve list last week, has been sent to the AHL on a conditioning stint. Colaiacovo hasn’t played since Jan. 21, so this will give him a chance to get back into game shape in time for Detroit’s final push for a playoff spot.

Detroit will attempt to bounce back against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. That won’t be easy, but the Red Wings need every point they can get.

Their loss against the Sharks was a costly one as they allowed San Jose to pull within one point of them. If it’s any consolation though, Pavel Datsyuk gave Logan Couture some nightmare fuel:

The Detroit Red Wings will be without forward Johan Franzen tonight when they take on St. Louis, according to MLive.com.

GM Ken Holland said that Patrick Eaves — who has been a healthy scratch for the last four games — will draw into the lineup and that Justin Abdelkader will move up and fill Franzen’s spot on the second line.

Franzen is listed as day-to-day with a hip flexor issue, but Holland told MLive the injury isn’t improving.

“It’s day-to-day and has progressively gotten worse,” Holland explained. “We’re going to give him a day off and see how he feels tomorrow.”

Franzen has three goals, six assists and a plus-4 rating in 12 games. He had been playing on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Damien Brunner.

Franzen was given a five-minute spearing major and a game misconduct on the play (Perron got two for boarding), though the penalties had little effect on the outcome as the score was 4-1 in Detroit’s favor at the time.

Oddly enough, this isn’t Franzen’s first foray into the spear game — during last year’s opening playoff round, he took a jab at Nashville forward David Legwand while Legwand was on the Predators bench:

Franzen was tagged with a two-minute slashing penalty on that play, and Legwand was given two for interference (for grabbing Franzen’s jersey.)